thom

I have to side with Mr Rayner on this one. To follow Jay's lead and use a metaphor from my own experience I would suggest it is akin to visiting the players lounge at Old Trafford and asking where Phil Neville is. Gary, Bapi - I can hear those husband and wife lung slices calling for our next Northern soiree... Cheers Thom

It is very sad indeed. What makes it all the more frustrating is that as far as I understand it the deli genuinely was in good shape for expansion, and it was alleged bad accountancy practice by a third party which has screwed things up. Always horrible to see a proud business trying to do something the right way go under, especially when the owners have put heart and soul into it. You're right that service was disorganised and slow (but to be honest this always seemed to have been the case) but I just liked the feel of the place and had great admiration for what it did, particularly in terms of great wine selection, and promotion of local and regional produce. Cheers Thom

That sounds about right. The descriptions on the menu make it clear there is a Beijing influence as well as Sichuan. Either way, I can't remember the last time I ate such exciting and tasty Chinese food. Well worth a trip if you're in the area. Cheers Thom

Carlovski, you're right. It is absolutely my new favourite restaurant, with the only downside being the fact I didn't discover it two years earlier when it opened. Jay's review is here and sums it all up pretty well. It was so good I returned the next week for my works do. The food was just as inspiring, and we had to wait 40 minutes of a Wednesday early evening for a table - always a good sign. They've recently opened a bigger place in Leeds, so even those over the wrong side of the Pennines don't have an excuse for not eating good Chinese. I did a rambling reportage for some other website when I first ate there, so for those to lazy to click Jay's link (and who are tolerant of lax grammar and punctuation) read on. It'll make your tastebuds tingle: "I ate for the first time in the Red Chilli restaurant (Portland St, on the edge of Chinatown), and it was absolutely outstanding. Basically its a Sichuan restaurant (Northern Chinese) rather than Cantonese (Southern/Hong Kong) which nearly all UK Chinese restaurants are. I'd eaten at a couple of pseudo-Sichuan restaurants before, as I like the spicy nature of the cuisine, but I realise now they represented just token dabbling in the food of the region - this was full blown authentic. The main difference is that the Sichaun food is not sickly, or gloopy or 'samey' as many Chinese dishes can be. It is all about thin, intensely flavoured broths, lots of chilli and pepper heat, and really subtle fresh herbs and spices. The depth of flavour in fantastic, with space to taste every ingredient in the dish. Reminded me of Thai or Korean in a way. The other bit which makes is fun is that half of the 150 so dishes were new to me, and included ingredients which I had never eaten or in many cases never even heard of. It also has things unusual to Cantonese Chinese cuisine, such as leeks, lamb, frogs legs and bread (or more accurately - 'spring onion bread - yum). Although it is authentic and uncompromised, many of the dishes are very accessable. That said, I was keen to try something new, so here are some of the more adventurous dishes: *Hot wok trotter *Husband and Wife lung slices (a literal translation I presume)! *Stir fried pigs's intestine with Chinese black pudding (essentially cubes of blood made jelly with gelatine and chopped into cubes) *Blessed the family (didn't order this so have no idea what it was, but it's on the seafood menu) *Stir fried eel with chilli *Homemade sundried sea cucumber *Mrs spotty hot and spicy tofu The highpoints were the soups (hot and sour with a REAL sichuan pepper kick, and tofu and fish); the eel (served chopped into chunks, bones intact); the pork belly; smoked duck (posh duck pancakes) and the house special of a kind of casserole of lamb, with lots of wilted lettuce, as well as dried chillis, crushed garlic, and chopped coriander. The pigs intestines and Chinese black pudding was... ok. Quite nice actually. We pretty much polished it off, but with so many dishes to choose from it didn't excel enough to make me pick it next time. When you arrive you get an English menu (everything you would expect in a normal Chinese restaurant) and then a Chinese menu (where the fun stuff is). Don't be daunted by the latter, as it's translated to English, so give your taste buds a work out and go for the exciting stuff. The decor is simple, the food authentic, and the service incredibly helpful and knowledgable. And the price? Well myself and my colleague ordered five mains plus two soups, and to be honest we had enough food for four hungry people. The cost? £53 including water, green tea and two coffees. Staggering. So is it the 'best' Chinese in Manchester? Well in terms of refinement and 'posh' experience possibly not, but it is so honest and simple, and the cuisine as a whole is so exciting and unusual (and with the spice is suited to English tastes) that it is my new favourite restaurant in town, period. This place has been open two years, and I have no idea how it has not been on my radar till now. Everyone should give go there as soon as possible!" Cheers Thom

Fisherman, Glad you had a good time. As I said, it is always offers good food and a good atmosphere, no matter what the occasion. Stephen B, You are right, it was my oversight whilst writing a rushed response. Pot of Beer is indeed closed (which is very sad as it was my local for years, along with the Marble Arch, both 100m from front door) and used to do decent Polish pub nosh. I actually meant the 'Beer House' (which made up the Angel Meadow Trinity along with the two afore-mentioned) which is still in business. New owners I think, but still a commitment to real ale and cider, and one of the best juke-boxes in town... Gary, oh I've been rumbled many times before now. It's true, I've only ever been to Manchester twice, and ate at Spud-U-Like (RIP) and Panama Hattys (plus a Greggs cheese and onion pasty on the way home). Cheers Thom

Bapi, there is no need for such extreme and explicit language. You are a father now! Think of the children... Cheers Thom

Gary, Yep, that dish was an absolute blinder. I often cook squid at home, but it NEVER (never, never, never) has the texture that Anthony's had. The combination of the merest charring on the squid flesh and the delicate and lustrous garlic cream worked better than I could believe. Bertie, Would be glad to meet you a pint. Are you living in the new-build bits of the market development? If you haven't really been back in the last five years then I think the changes to the area as a whole will leave you stunned. It might not yet be as gentried and mainstream as Soho in London or SoHo NY, but it certainly has a sustained and vibrant community and a fantastic gritty energy. I'll ping you my details. Cheers Thom

Good to hear from you Gary. Don't worry, whatever happens to me you'll always have the stripiest pin-stripes in town. Actually, on the suject of Anthonys I have to shamefacedly admit I was in Leeds a week or so ago and didn't call you, though I did have a rather spectacular lunch there. It was my B'day, so my better half took me over - her first time at the restaurant. The starters were great (I made her have the risotto natch, I had the porky thing with lung and stuff) but the mains were outstanding. I went for the silver hake with baby squid and garlic cream. Eloquence fails me, suffice to say 'bloody hell'. Soph had the fish (forget which) with ham hock ravioli and white peach - also wonderful. Good desserts, great cheeses topped it off. Where is a Mancunian Anthony when you need one...? Anyway, back to Manchester... Bertie, you are moving into a rather fine part of the town - The Northern Quarter. I used to live a minute or so's walk from there, so it was my food and drink playground. Do you know the area at all? If not, below is a brief summary of what you have in store. Most of this is already on a thread somewhere, but let me know if you want any detail. Cheers Thom Northern Quarter is the home of quirkiness (and sometimes edginess), ethnic and cultural mixing, and is a mecca for all sorts of independent businesses, especially (lately) restaurants and bars. For bars you have the Bluu (small chain, very nice decor, decent beers and cocktails), Socio Rehab (some of the best cocktails you will ever have, made by world champion - yes they have such competitions - bartenders), Rodeo (margarita bar owned by same guys), Odd (little independent place), Common (low-fi bedsit style joint), Cord (muso/DJ's hang-out of choice) Centro (similar, but with better beers and bar food), Bay Tree (very buzzy small pub/bar mix), Dry (birth of Madchester, now slightly diluted Ben Kelly design) and more... For Pubs you have lots of great old places. The Castle (traditional small city boozer), Hare and Hounds (old smithfield market boozer with and an old piano), Bar Fringe (serves bloody hundreds of Belgian beers) as well as The Pot of Beer and Marble Arch just off Rochdale Road (both real ale places, the latter a microbrewery with beautiful tiled interior). If you want the scariest pub in central Manchester go to the King on Oldham St... For restaurants you have Bluu again (so-so), Market (quirky, old fashioned but quality), N4 Bar and Restaurant (decent sometimes patchy Med/Moorish), Sweet Madarin (decent well priced Chinese), Cedar Tree (mad but authentic Lebanese restaurant) etc. You also have the Love Saves the day deli/restaurant/coffee shop which is excellent, Oklahoma coffee shop (and kitsch gift shop), Buddist Centre (not too bad cheap as chips veggie stuff), Chinese Arts Centre (tea shop), Soup Kitchen (Hoxton-style trendy canteen), the barrows (super cheap fruit and veg) and a handful of ethnic food shops. And... Live music at Matt and Phreds Jazz Club (excellent), Night and Day (studenty/alternative/indy) and Band on the Wall (world famous world music venue - refurb at the mo). Crowning glory though is the curry cafes - authentic Pakistani 'greasy spoon' style places. There's ten or fifteen to choose from. This and That is the cheapest (rice and three veggie curries for £2.50), Marhabra does the best breads and kebabs (proper Tandoor) and The Kebabish is slightly smarter (and pricier) with a good selection. Al Faisal, Kabana, Yagdar etc all have their supporters too, and Hunters is worth going to as its the only one open outside working hours. As you may have guessed I still work in the Northern Quarter and I love it dearly, but I'm still jealous you'll be living there. You'll have a great time. Cheers Thom

Mentioning my name is always a fifty/fifty thing - either warm handshakes and turfing Winner out of the best table in the house, or beaten to a bloody pulp and left in the gutter with the days wastage and scrapings. So do you feel lucky punk? Bapi, good to hear from you fellow. Hows our clement Northern weather treating you? I exchanged emails with Gary a few weeks ago, and suggested an imminent repeat of our little soiree was in order (when shall we three meet again? etc etc). Excellent recollection regarding the brown sauce thing, and also Gary's refusal to eat in the preposterously pretentious Panacea. Of course I think the only reason he wouldn't was that he knew the owner from his stock-broking days, and was sulking over the fact that he had more Porsches, global knives, pin stripe suits and pink shirts than him. Cheers Thom

Fisherman, So you're at Picc? Hope you enjoy it, it's a regular haunt of mine. Don't expect anything jaw-dropping, but it just does decent, very eatable Italian food, with informal though competent service, and very nice busy surroundings. It's consistency is one of it's strong points - you rarely have less than a good experience there. When are you going? It can be battered Fri/Sat night, and also gets very busy most lunches (particularly Thurs/Fri) and similarly busy with an after-works crowd later in the week. If bustle and buzz is what you are after then no problem, but don't expect a quiet and reflective meal! If you are going at a busy time, I would speak to reservations again and use charm and persistence to see if you can get a table on the upper floor. This is on the street level with the bar, and is airy, light and open. The lower floor has a greater capacity and although they've done a decent job with a difficult space I still find it slightly claustrophobic, and it often has bigger parties so can be noisy. Where are you going before or after? Let me know how the night goes. Cheers Thom

Ahh... All this is taking me back to my days as A Liverpool University Marine Biology under-graduate. We spent quite a lot of time on fisheries ecology and population growth (Liverpool Uni is unique is that it actually prepares government fisheries reports, albeit it is for the Manx government...) and like many biological systems it can be reduced to a set fo fairly accurate mathamatical rules and equations. To be honest it can all get pretty heavy, and thus I made sure I studiously avoided selecting any questions on the subject in my finals (rocky shore ecology was much easier). One of the few things that did stay with me though was to do with tipping points. Studies of fish populations show that if mature fish numbers drop below a certain point (which theoretically can be calculated) then the the population will go into terminal and irreversible decline, even though they may be thousands or millions of fish still in the sea, and even if a fishing moritorium is introduced. I think that this is part of what leads to the conflcit between fishermen and scientists (that and the hypocritical, illogical and frequently unpolicable rules and regulations that different governments keep introducing). Scientists can see that fish stocks are reaching a point of no return, whilst fishermen point out that there are still many fish to be caught, and if they don't do so then another country's fleet will. Sadly, in light of the slow and fiercely-fought tightening of regulations regarding cod fishing I would be suprised to see significant growth in its populations within our lifetime. It will become either a commercially unviable luxury ingredient or just plain extinct. Cheers Thom

Kutsu, Just a quick and belated note to say I'm glad you had a good time. Where abouts had your travelled from? Hopefully you'll be back in God's country soon enough. Cheers Thom

All, Just to say that the trip to Canada was wonderful, and the Auberge Hatley in particular was utterly outstanding. As to where we ate, well I have to admit we copped out a little bit. Not telling experienced parents anything they don't know here, but however much of a gourmet/food snob you are, convinience does become a bit of a driver to your dining choices, especially when you are in the middle of such an exhausting trip (with temps in the 90's...). On that note, we skipped straight out of the airport and hot-tailed it directly up to North Hatley. The weather was so hot that we didn't really do much roaming around (my better half was obsessed with keeping out fair-skinned, sun-block slathered toddler out of the sun) so we ate most of the meals in the hotel. To be honest, when the food is as good as the Auberge Hatley (and especially when breakfast and dinner is included) it would be a crime not to. Looking back on our whirlwind multi-city trip the details of individual meals escape me. We ate the first night in our rooms, and after about 16 hours straight of travel the food was good enough to raise our weary eyebrows. The high points were my scallop starter with citrus and beet puree, the goats cheese starter, and my main of rabbit. Oh, and the desserts, with a top drawer apple tart, and incredibly light but intense fruit sorbets. What impressed me about the dishes was the compostion and balance of ingredients, the effortless and unshowy techniques demonstrated, and the precise and intense flavours. I don't eat French formal dining on a regular basis, but that first meal reminded me of exactly why I should make the effort to do so more often. I hate to get all low-brow, but I have to say I found the breakfasts just as enjoyable the next morning. Delicious home made granola, a great selection of fruit, cold meats and cheeses, and really, really good pastries. In fact, the pastries were so good (we seem to struggle for good croissants in the UK) that the first morning I ate two mini-muffins, two croissants, and too choclatines. And cereal. And a cooked breakfast. The only let-down was the sausages, which I found tended to split, and had a slightly gelatanous quality. We ate in the restaurant the next night, and standards were maintained. For some reasons the dishes don't stand out so clearly (though I think I had the guineau fowl as a main), but the quality was undoubtably as high, and the sommelier helfully gave us an indiots guide around their impressive wine list, and we enjoyed some well chosen glasses to accompany each course. The wedding meal the next night was also great, though the company (and possibly the celebratory drinking) was so overwhelming that again the details escape me, though a buttery foie gras starter lives in the memory. I must congratulate the hotel on the level of service and child-friendly flexibility we received, which was absolutely outstanding. They were even kind enough to knock up some simple pasta with tomato sauce for our toddler (which needless to say was delicious). Most staggering of all was the fact that they did this at five minutes notice, about two hours before they catered for about 100 guests at the wedding dinner. Considering the strain the kitchen must have been under to accomplish this was wonderful. So, thanks for all the tips and feedback here - sorry we didn't get to act on more of them - and for the reassurance about the Auberge Hatley - which was absolutely spot on. We will be coming back to Canada. Cheers Thom

Mascarpone, The holiday was fantastic, thank you very much for asking. Exhausting though... That whole 5 hour time difference/7 hour flight/big city/first trip with a kid was quite a baptism of fire... As to where we ate, well I have to admit we copped out a little bit. Not telling experienced parents anything they don't know here, but however much of a gourmet/food snob you are, convinience does become a bit of a driver to your dining choices when you have a toddler in tow, especially when you are in the middle of such an exhausting trip (with temps in the 90's...) and there body clock is all over the place. We arrived in from Montreal (having experienced exceedingly good food at the Relais Chateaux/Relais Gourmand Auberge Hatly) feeling pretty zonked out mid afternoon, and went straight to the hotel - The W Court in Murray Hill. I have to say I was pretty happy. It was a funky, modern, hip place with attentive service and a buzzy looking bar and restaurant. If you looked closely you could see the cost-cutting which explained why it was so much cheaper than Soho Grand/Mercer et al, but it felt much better than some chintzy faded grandeur old-style place with sky high rates and suspiciously stained porcelin etc and the pricing enabled us to take a roomy suite. We concentrated on eating out and about during the day, and then ate in the hotel at night. Using our high tech long range baby-listeners we were able to do the latter child-free, which was vital as my better half was vehemently against baby-sitters (and the wonderful freedom that they would have brought...). We ended up grabbing a few light lunches whilst out doing baby tourist things. Namely the cafe in the Central Park zoo, and the cafe underneath the Natural History Museum. Both were bland offerings, with the Museum's offering in particular veering towards positively unpleasant. Everything was slightly watery, including the (allegedly) kiddy-friendly mac and cheese, and the water-logged bread on the tuna sandwich. Icon, the restaurant at our hotel, where we ate for a couple of nights, was actually fine. Mean and moody, with a balanced menu of eclectic comfort food. None of it excelled, but it was competently done, tasty, and had a decent wine list. The high points, such as they were, were meltingly tender baby back ribs. Some of the Asian influences dishes - the tuna and the mahi-mahi were less successful with some conflicting ingredients, and over uninspiring stir-fry elements. We paid a couple of trips to Lombardis, as it meant we could eat out in the park next door whilst my offspring ran around screaming. Having read the pizza threads on here I realise I am but an enthusiastic amateur where pies are concerned, but I have to say that in my unenlightened view I found them most enjoyable. The toppings were great (though the meatballs seem to have shrunk since our last visit), and the base was wonderful - bases in the US seem to have an elasticity to the dough that you just don't get in even the best places over here. Dean and Deluca was as good as ever, with eye-wateringly (reassuringly?) high prices. We spent what felt like $47 on a tub of different salads for our lad's lunch, which he then refused to eat. Bugger. I always like to spot the unusual or unexpected British products whilst in gourmet outlets overseas - the standouts here were the British beers, which included the seldom seen honey-tinged 'Waggledance'. I was also suprised at how prevalent Newcastle Brown Ale was, though an article in one of the papers backed up that it is a huge success Stateside. We had the heart-rending experience of finding ourself wandering past our age-old favourite Gramercy Tavern, whilst en route to Soho for a day of shopping (and paint-based fun at the Childrens Art Museum of course). It was 30 minutes before opening, and yet again, the reality of having an feisty child in tow hit home - no just making a snap decision to kick back in a coffee shop for half an hour with the papers waiting for the doors too open, and then indulge in a lingering lunch. I think the high point of the NY trip was Madison Square Park (thank you eGullet),. Great playground (boy is this post going to start to grate on non-parents), and the fabulous Shake Shack. I'm a bit of a sucker for great concepts - which the Shake Shack is, and a fan of Mr Meyer, but above and beyond this the food was really good. Thick tasty burgers, pink in the middle, and tasty dogs with enough precariously balanced toppings to create an inpromptu side salad. The old fashioned still lemonade was a winner too. I think I failed to appreciate the custards though, which just seemed like a rich, good-quality Cornish ice-cream to me. Had a nosey around Grand Central market, which was very nice. Good veggy stall, with a real variety of cool produce (white asparagus, salsify, samphire - known as sea beans! - and lots of things I didn't even recognise). The only thing that scared me off was the fish stall which had the unappetising sounding fish sausages... Also in Grand Central we visited the wine store, and on the recommendation of the owner took home a very nice bottle of Californian pinot noir. I am whatever the opposite of a wine-snob is, but I'm attempting to build my knowledge to increase the enjoyment I get from a decent glass. I'm ashamed to say that I have drunk said wine, found it utterly delicious, but couldn't even tell you the name... I'll double check and let you know. On the subject of wine, we also picked up a couple of bottles of wine from a place half way down Broadway (about level with The University, 5 mins North of Houston). It was like a big wine supermarket, with what seemed like a excellent selection, and was run by an eccentric guy with a grey beard and a deep voice, and a penchant for chewing mints as he spoke. We got a couple of bottles of US Chardonnay (not a grape I normally go for) for friends (about $10), and then indulged ourself with a £20 bottle for ourselves. The latter was, he said, one the few true US Chardonnays, as virtually all the rest were some mutant grape so deviated from the true Chardonnay that it couldn't be classified as such in France. He called it a travesty, and we only realised on leaving the shop that the true travesty was that he had actually also sold us two relatively cheap bottles of US Chardonnay which were by his own arguments 'awful'. We missed the Union Square Green Market (passed in during set up on the Wednesday, but didn't realise it wouldn't be on the next day), so that is on the to do list for next time. All in all we didn't get to eat in half the number or breadth of places that we had ambitiously wanted to. That said, having found out parenting feet with the is trip, we feel confident that we can strike an even better balance next time round, and get closer to the indulgent gastro-tourism which used to drive our trips to the city. Thanks again for all the help and advice on here. Cheers Thom

A pleasure. Genuinely, I could bore the pants of people about Manchester all day... I think that you'll find that Manchester has a dining scene bigger, broader and more varied than anywhere outside London. It's a shame we just don't have real top drawer place like Leeds has Anthonys. Apart from the incomparable Paul Kitching down in Altrincham (20 mins by tram out of the city) we haven't had a Michelin star for 20 years. Food shopping? Hmmm... Like a lot of regional city centres Manchester hasn't fared well for indigenous food shopping. The trade produce markets (Smithfield etc) got pushed out into purpose built sheds outside the city centre, and the original 'public' market got shoved into the crappy Arndale Centre. It retained a very good fish selection until it got moved again (losing stalls on the way) due to a refurb. Most of the best shopping in Manchester is ethnic, and all most of it is outside the city. I'm not sure if you will venture outside the city, so I'll keep this bit brief: JEWISH There are lots of excellent Jewish pattiseries and deli's in North Manchester around Cheetham Hill and Prestwich (5-10 mins from the centre). The most famous is the Titanic, which was opened by one of the ships survivors, and is today owned by his (great?) grandchildren. INDIAN/PAKISTANI Rusholme (Oxford Road, 5 mins south of the centre, beyond the University) is Manchester's famous 'Curry Mile', and has stacks of restaurants and food shops. Nowadays though the selection in Cheetham Hill is almost as good, and the pricing can be cheaper. POLISH/ORGANIC/FAIRTRADE ETC I've lumped these slightly incongruous catergories in together as you'll find them all in bohemian Chorlton (5 mins South of centre). The Barbakan deli is famous for its huge selection of breads. Polish is obviously it's speciality, but the range is really incredible. You'll never buy a bad loaf. Opposite is the Unicorn Grocery. This is stuffed with the most morally correct right on food ever, but more often that not this means it turns up produce which is unusual or of outstanding quality. There are numerous other quality food retailers in Chorlton, which is why Culinary Bear is a convert! 'REET NORTHERN I'm allowed to take the micky out of the Northern accent as I am Northern... if you want traditional Northern English markets then the one at Bolton (30 mins drive from the centre) is top drawer. It has a real sense of pride, and is a bustling, thriving market with a serious food section, which includes all the local favourites (from cheeses to tripe) as well brilliant fish and some international deli style stalls. CITY CENTRE In the city centre the pickings are slightly slimmer... You are right to highlight Chinatown, which has some excellent supermarkets (I normally end up at the Woo Sang). They're very convinient, though the massive Chinese supermarkets on the Northern and Southern tips of the city have much wider selections. If you want deli style stuff then the afore mentioned Love Saves the Day is good (though they are more cafe then Deli), and Harvey Nicholls is much as you would expect it. Selfridges started very well but it now seriously watered down (all basically 'ready meal' stuff in nice bowls - the fresh meat, fish and produce has gone). Oh, there's a decent cookware shop on deansgate - it was Peter Maturi but some company from Leeds has renamed it now. I'd also keep an eye out for markets. They used to be a decent (if small) farmers market in the Northern Quarter a couple of times a month, but I think it has now moved out to somewhere more high profile. Both Albert Square and Piccadilly Gardens have regular markets, which more than often not are international travelling affairs (German, french etc). It can be a bit touristy, but there are some bargains to be had... Oh, I forgot, Samsi Yakatori restaurant (which sadly has not got great reports lately) has a small Japanese food/products shop underneath the dining room (Whitworth St) which is quite fun. Again, I best draw a line here as otherwise I will completely arse-up my pre-holiday desk clearing. Cheers Thom

Typical... An open-ended question on my favourite pet subject, and I don't have the time to indulge myself with a really nerdishly detailed reply as I'm off on my hols... It goes against everything I stand for, and sticks in my throat, but here is a (relatively) brief and concise response: You don't give much clue as to what level of formality or refinement you are looking for, and whether you have any particular tastes or preferences for cuisine. So, here's a whistlestop tour of a variety of places. MID RANGE If you are training it into Piccadilly, then Cafe Paradiso at the Hotel Rosetti (Piccadilly) is worth a crack as it is right nearby. It was a decent, bright and airy mid-range Med place, but a new chef (Ex Nico and Soho House NY) has really raised the bar and created an excellent menu. If you want 'Gastropub' (wash my mouth out) food, style and comfort, then both the Chophouses (Mr Thomas's on Cross St, and Sams up some side alley off Cross St, the name of which I forget) are worth a go. Decent food, classic British dishes, and some nicely sourced local ingredients ('Manchester Dim Sum' is good fun). Mr Thomas's is a beautiful old Victorian space, and would get the nod from me. Alfesco outside (in St Anns Sq) when the weather is righ too. My other top choice (and a personal fave) is The Bridge (Bridge St). It had a kitchen refurb last week, but should be re-opended now. Robert Owen-Brown has picked up a few awards lately, and his ingredient sourcing is excellent, and his dishes and simple but technically very good. I'd had various stand out dishes here, and always find the fish to be good. Piccolino (side street between Albert Square and the top half of King St) is a regular for me too. As Gary says the alcohol certainly works, but the food is good too. Very busy with a ncie atmosphere, good service, and a wide-ranging Italian menu with all the normal pastas/pizzas/grills plus some more interesting dishes (carpaccio, chicken livers with marsala and grapes) thrown in to lift it well above Pizza Express. I have to say I ate at Harvey Nichols recently, and actually had a very good -if unadventurous - meal. All your standard brasserie style dishes were present, and although a tad pricey it was great. Nice and convinient (New Cathedral St) and with a decent buzz during the day. And you get to nosey around the food hall. Oh, almost forgot - The Restaurant Bar and Grill (on John Dalton St). It's owned by the same team as Piccolino, but is more like Harvey Nicks (or vice versa). Lots of brown and beige, great glass people-watching windows, and very competent menu - grill and med with a few Asian classics. UPPER END I must say I just don't eat out at this level in Manchester that often any more, as I seldom find it inspiring enough to justify the price jump above the sorts of places listed above. Establishment (King St), Le Mont (top of the Urbis) both have their fans and awards, but inspite the fact that their menus always feature some intriguing dishes my recent meals there have see-sawed between excellent and patchy. Obsidian (Princess St) and Cotton House (Ducie St by Piccadilly) are both also supposedly angling for this market, but whilst there prices are up there the food isn't quite as sharp (particularly The Cotton House) and the atmosphere is more bar and less 'fine dining'. Yang Sing is well worth a visit. Its had a few knockers in the nationals recently, yet whilst the 'mains' may not always excel, the Dim Sum is fantastic as ever. Particularly worth a lunch visit, as you can select purely from the Dim Sum menu, and make sure you ask for any specials or chefs recommendations. The service can be a little gruff, but they usually respond if you show an interest in going beyond prawn dumplings and spring rolls. BUDGET This is where it can get interesting. I'm not sure where your shopping will take you, but if you are walking from Piccadilly to the main retail area you will walk past the Northern Quarter (down Oldham St/Tib St on the right hand side as Piccadilly gardens are on your left). This area is a little 'edgier' then some visitors to the city may be prepared to sample, but it is the true beating heart of independent Manchester, and WELL worth a visit. Particular recommendations would be trying one of the back street curry houses. These places may make the hygiene obsessed wince, and are basically ethnic greasy spoons, but some of the food is outstanding, and the prices would make your jaw drop. My favourites are the kebbabish (Hilton St), which is a little pricier (ie you may spend over a fiver) and 'nicer', and the scary looking but wonderful 'Maharbra' (a side alley at the Piccadilly end of Newton St), which has a proper tandoor and does wonderful nans. Love Saves the Day (Oldham St) deli is also worth a shout. It's just moved to new bigger premises, and has a great NY feel, and some great produce. They serve all the normal platters and sandwiches/bagels, but also have hot specials. The standard is simple cafe style, but the quality of the raw ingredients and great pricing make it worth a go. The guy who runs it loves wine, so he also has a great selection which you can buy retail and just pay corkage on. If you decide to downgrade and just grab a coffee or something, then try Suburb On deansgate. They do great coffees, and it has a nice funky vibe, and hats of to them because they are an independent taking on Starbucks et al on their own prime High St turf. YKL, Petit Blanc was always fine, but I've not eaten there since the group was taken over, and I know quite a lot of their key staff left. Bertie, Le Mont covered above. Heathcotes is a funny one, I've had some very good meals there but always found the space difficult. Windowless and noisey, so it's not somewhere I frequent. Gethin, I've been to Sweet Mandarin a couple of times, but that particular cocktail elluded me. The food was fine, but didn't particularly stand out. It should do ok though as it is the only Chinese in the Northern Quarter, and is a cool little place with floor to ceiling plate glass windows. Fisherman, I've always liked the Kro's, and Kro 2 in particular is a great place. The food is cheap but always hits the spot, and the outdoor area is lovely, especially considering it's sits almost under a motorway flyover next to one of the cities busiest roads!). It's well away from the shopping area (on Oxford Road), but they are meant to be opening a branch in the new office building in Piccadilly Gardens any time now. Well, that should keep you going for now I guess. Let me know how you get on. Cheers Thom

That's brilliant feedback, thanks so much for the suggestions. We fly tomorrow first thing, so I'll let you know how we fared on my return. Cheers Thom

I can't believe I didn't think of posting here sooner... We're leaving sunny Manchester for Canada on Tuesday; our first major trip with our whirling dervish of an 18 month old son. God help us on a seven hour flight. We're flying into Montreal for a friends wedding, and then have to drive out to the Auberge Hatley. I have two child-related questions: Firstly, and not that it will make much difference as we are going anyway, I wondered if anyone has any experience as to how the Auberge Hatley copes with kids. I realise as the place is a Relais and Chateaux the food will probably be excellent, but it all looks quite stuffy and formal, and I wonder how they might cope with requests for simple off-menu toddler suitable food? Secondly, we are not planning to linger in Montreal (I realise we are missing out, but for simplicities sake we're driving straight out to the hotel) but we may hang about if the traffic is bad (we land at rush hour). If we decide to kill a couple of hours is there a decent unpretencious child friendly restaurant where we could kill a couple of hours? I'm thinking well cooked well sourced comfort food, and ideally it would be somewhere easy for a virgin to left-hand driving to find in a city he doesn't know... Thanks in advance for any feedback. Cheers Thom

Great guys, cheers again. Mascarpone, you pre-empted a question I had about Asian cuisine - basically whether a child who pretty much eats a no salt/home-cooked diet would be able to cope with the salt, heat and intense aromatic flavours which make Asian cuisine so exciting. Thinking about it we've never taken him out for Asian food, and I don't think we've home cooked him a stir-fry. Must rectify that, so thanks for the tips on toddler-suitable dishes. I think The Shake Shack is going to be a daily pilgrimage, and we'll try a couple of the neighbourhood Italian's and Chinese/Korean places. On the subject of the former, I used to like the pizzas from Lombardis (and usefully there is a little playground next door); is it still good (I appreciate that most of Little Italy is a tourist trap)? Also, we used to like Il Mulino. I'm imagining they would be fine with kids at lunchtime, but does anyone have any experience? Are there any bog standard cafes around our Hotel (Murray Hill/The W Court) where we can sit and grab a bite to eat/breakfast before venturing off for the day? I'm a bagel addict, but anything along the 'light bites' theme is fine. Thanks so much for all your feedback. Thom

Great suggestions one and all. Shake shack just sounds absolutely fantastic. It did get a brief mention in one of the guides I picked up, but I didn't realise it was a Danny Meyer Place, nor that frozen custard could sound quite so delicious. I think we will be making it a daily drop in. Just so I am clear, is Madison Park the bit marked on my map as a green rectangle labelled 'Madison Square' (not the MSG venue obviously)? Craft was one I was considering as I'd heard very good things about it. I also like the idea of Eleven Madison Park (and any of Mr Meyer's ventures to be honest) and Blue Smoke has been noted for doing the whole high chair bit - very important. Grand Sichuan also noted, and Ned, thanks for the sandwich tip - That's the sort of insider tip you'll never get in a guide book. Jennahan, that's a lot of practical and sensible advice! Our boy has to run and run all day (Forrest Gump style) or else he is a nightmare, so Central Park will not know what has hit it. We're planning on doing the walking thing too, and although Murray Park is a little out of the way I know from past experience that we are happy to walk to Soho/Greenwich Village or Central Park from there. Jean Georges has high chairs?! Wow, I really didn't expect that. And (bear with me, I'm not as up to date as I should be with NY dining) isn't Artisanal pretty upscale too? Impressed and delighted if such places can cope with toddlers for lunch, this may open up a whole new set of dining options to us. Kind of important as although I was quite excited about getting a babysitter in for a night, my girlfriend is not (apparently no mere mortal can be entrusted with out special little man) so having top-drawer kid-friendly places to lunch is great. We're off on Thursday next week, so I'll bounce any other suggestions around on here, and give you a little review of how it all went afterwards. Cheers Thom

Thanks one and all to the helpful replies. We have moved on a little bit now (learning all the way), so here's an update and a more refined set of questions: We have realised that finding a suite with a seperate living/sleeping space was key (meaning Jack can sleep whilst we are up and about in the room) and finding one that suited our tastes and budget was the key. We were almost swayed by some extremly good rates at The Mark, but in the end we got a great deal of the apparently funky but comfortable W over in Murray Hill. Seems in style like A Soho Grand-Lite, so we liked it. I think we have decided to take things easy in the evening and just eat in the hotel (hoping Jack's body clock will have settled and he'll be fast asleep). The inhouse eaterie is called Icon, and the menus and pics online look fine with a loungey environment and eclectic comfort food. Anyone have any opinions on whether it's any good or not? We do though fancy getting the baby sitters in for one night, and going for a big blow out meal. I'm tempted by a return to Gramercy, but does anyone have any opinions on where we should go for a special treat? I think we would prefer 'Modern American' rather than anything ethnic or rigidly French fine dining, and would be looking for a reasonably refined place. Anything a little bit different to what we would be likely to get at home in Manchester/London would be great (in the same way that St John in London is very different to what you would find in NY, whereas Gordon Ramsay possibly is not). A final request is for places to eat during the day. We won't be leaving Manhattan, and we're looking for kid friendly places. As mentioned previously these can be simpler ethnic places, or they can more upscale places which are less formal and busy at midday than for dinner.. As suggested by SuzySushi I'll call ahead to check these places are kid friendly anyway, but it's nice to have starting list. Thanks in advance. Cheers Thom

Pan, Fantastic, excellent links. I should have guessed this would have been covered in detail before. The book sounds interesting too. I'll have a look on Amazon. Does it cover babies too or just bone fide children? Thanks again for your help. Cheers Thom

Boy it's along time since I posted in this section... Brief backstory first: I run the Restaurant and Bar exhibition in Manchester (UK), and before that I founded Restaurant Magazine, and launched events such as The 50 Best Restaurants in the World awards. Not withstanding the fact that my job lets me hang around a lot of nice restaurants and call it work, my girlfriend and I have always been fanatical foodies, and we have always loved eating and drinking in New York. In the past our annual visits have been coordinated around the restaurants we wanted to eat in. We stayed at The Soho Grand, and ate in Nobu, The Canal House, The Mercer Kitchen, Gotham Bar and Grill, Balthazaar, Gramercy Tavern, Union Square, Il Mulino, Babbo, Cafe Bolund and more. Until... we were blessed with our son Jack. Add up the ten months since we had last been away, the nine months of pregnancy (a harder burden for my GF than me I admit...) and the sixteen months old he is today and suddenly we haven't been away anywhere for three years, let alone New York! Time for a return... We're not masochists, and we certainly wouldn't have chosen a long haul flight with an energetic 18 month old, but a friends wedding in Montreal has given us the option get back to NY via a 45 minute flight. My question to you clever, clever folks is where (and how) do we eat in NY with a toddler? Equally, where do we stay? We'd love to stay around Soho again rather than uptown, but I've quickly come to realise that boutique style hotels aren't particularly baby friendly. More to the point I guess that getting out at night is tricky (like all new parents we get freaked out by the idea of strangers baby-sitting) so we need a hotel that has a decent restaurant and bar we can lounge about in at night courtesy of a listening service. And eating out. I guess lunch and early evening are the key as that's when we'll be out and about. I love Gramercy Tavern, I love good food, I have no restrictions as to style or ethnicity of cuisine and ideas relating to hotdogs, streetfood and delis are just as relevent as 'fine' dining and a la carte menus. So where would I like? Where likes kids? Where serves the sort of food a kid can eat, or is willing to adapt dishes (simple pasta etc)? All help much appreciated. Cheers Thom

Utterly outstanding. The review (well, for a first-timer, and a chef to boot), and (by the sounds of it) the restaurant. I'll put it (the restaurant) on my 'to do' list. You even shoe-horned the phrase "mass-spectrometer" in there - a brave and impressive use of nerdy science terminology. Jay got ideas above his station and came up with "single egg molecules" and look what happened to his career! Eat somewhere else good and tell us about it soon. Cheers Thom

Funny you should mention Fraiche CB. It hadn't been on my radar either but lately a handful of people have mentioned to me that I should take a look at it. Caterer also did a big piece on Marc himself with a front cover splash no less. I actually wondered about getting him to do a spot at the exhibition but with a fairly tight team in the kitchen (just him and a sous at the moment I think) and late notice it just wasn't possible. Pity, we like to have first dibs on the local talent. His background is certainly top notch, and from what I've read about him he's a talented chef with huge potential. Certainly people in the industry whose opinions I trust have spoken about him in glowing terms. Yes, and in Birkenhead too... CB, let me know how you find it. Cheers Thom